


Dreams and Nightmares

by LydiaOfNarnia



Category: Romeo And Juliet - All Media Types, Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare
Genre: Family, Gen, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-04-11 17:32:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4445423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LydiaOfNarnia/pseuds/LydiaOfNarnia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nightmares vanish into the darkness; but some dreams feel more real than others, as Juliet learns. Tybalt is only there to help her wake up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dreams and Nightmares

The scream that without warning pierced the dead of night inside the Capulet mansion had Tybalt jolting awake and out of bed almost before he could register what he was hearing. On trained instinct, he automatically grabbed the sword out from under his bed where it always remained for emergencies and ran out into the hallway; there, he saw that he hadn’t been the only one alarmed by the sudden cry in the darkness. Maids and servants rushed back and forth, all of them trying to figure out from whom the scream had come; but Tybalt knew its source without a question in his mind, and in that moment his heart had never pounded louder. Only Juliet could scream like that; Juliet was in trouble.

His feet pounded against the carpeted floor, creating dull thuds against barely covered marble as he raced around the corner and down the long hallway that would take him to Juliet’s room. When he got there, he saw that he wasn’t the first; several of the maids were already milling about outside, and the door was slightly ajar.

Tybalt ignored the busybody maids as he knocked briefly before pushing the door to Juliet’s bedroom open even more. The room was darkened, but by the light of the moon he could still very clearly see two figures huddled on the bed, the Nurse clutching a shaking Juliet in her arms. Tybalt paused in the doorway, panting as he took in the unexpectedly tranquil scene; the peace didn’t last. When Juliet laid eyes on her cousin another strangled wail escaped her, and Tybalt instinctively took as step back. He turned to the Nurse, as if asking for help; the older woman only sighed regretfully.

“Nightmare,” she offered in explanation, “and a particularly bad one, it seems.”

“Oh, Nurse,” Juliet sobbed, her tears quickly soaking her poor Nurse’s nightgown through, “you have no idea.”

The Nurse hushed her charge gently. “It’s alright, sweetheart. Do you want your cousin in here, or shall I kick him out?”

“Tybalt?” Juliet’s head jerked up again; she stared for a long moment at her cousin, her face tearstained and lower lip trembling violently, before she shook her head. “No, Tybalt, I- I want Tybalt. Just Tybalt.”

The Nurse blinked in surprise for a moment, not seeming to know what to make of such a declaration; but gradually she nodded, relinquishing her hold on Juliet, who trembling in her pale pink nightgown reminded Tybalt starkly of a ghost. As Tybalt stepped aside for the Nurse to leave the room she gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder, nudging him forward; the door closed behind her, and in the hall Tybalt could hear her scolding the league of maids for snooping. He swallowed nervously as he took a step forward.

_“Tybalt.”_ Juliet held out her arms to him- almost like a child- and that easily he found himself in the bed with her, holding her tightly as her tears resumed once more.

“Hush,” he murmured, smoothing down her long, chestnut brown hair; it felt like silk under his hands and Juliet seemed mildly comforted by the gesture, so he continued to repeat it. “Talk about what happened. Don’t keep it in.”

“D- don’t want to.”

“You’ll carry it in your head and it will seem worse than it actually was,” Tybalt argued reasonably, his own chivalry driving him to ignore the teary destruction of his favorite silk nightshirt. Juliet, after a few more seconds of weeping, managed to push herself up and drape her arms around his neck; Tybalt was stiff. The two cousins hadn’t been this close in ages; he felt slightly uncomfortable with the proximity, slightly thrilled, and more-than-slightly worried about Juliet. His cousin, he knew, was not a person to show her weaknesses easily; now she gazed up at him and her tear streaked face was one of the most open in the world. She took a deep, shaky breath before beginning the tearful explanation.

“You were… oh god, Tybalt, you were dead. And I saw you there, in my lap, I held you and you wouldn’t move… you wouldn’t breathe…” 

Her last words faded into a whimper, and she clutched her cousin’s shirt tightly in her fists; Tybalt patted her back, but Juliet was far from done. “And there was another boy there too, I don’t know who, but he was dead and it hurt so _badly_ because somehow deep down I just knew it was my fault. And I cared about this boy… so much… even thinking about him now…” Juliet’s face contorted from dreamy to horror-stricken. “Oh god, and he was _dead!_ His blood was on my hands- his blood, Tybalt, and yours, and _yours!_ I’m so sorry!” Her weeping had doubled now, and Tybalt was worried enough that he tried to lay her back on her bed; but she refused to untangle herself from around his neck. 

“And there was a dagger… a dagger there with blood on it. And I… oh god, I… I took the dagger. I’m sorry, Tybalt, _I’m so sorry!”_

“Shh… Juliet…” His soothing whispers seemed to have little effect, and Tybalt was losing patience fast; it wasn’t long before his voice shifted into one of authority. “Juliet.”

His cousin looked up at him, eyes wide.

“It was a dream. You know that. I’m not dead and neither are you, and neither is this dream boy.” He was only listing facts now; Juliet knew all this, and it was doing little to comfort her. Somewhat desperately, Tybalt searched for something that Juliet herself might say in his situation. “The... magic of dreams is that when we awake, they’re gone. No matter what. A dream is a dream, and a nightmare is no more than a bad one. But they’re just like any other dream; they vanish, and they don’t mean anything other than that you’re afraid of losing the people you love.” And why wouldn’t she be? Juliet was so loving to everyone; she thrived off of the love of others, so it made sense that she would be terrified of losing people. “And it’s alright. I want to tell you, I’m here. You haven’t lost me.” He squeezed her against his chest gently. “And you never will. For as long as I am alive, you will never lose anyone. This I promise.”

Juliet stared at him in the silence that followed for what felt like an eternity; watching, judging, gauging him for any sign of mistruth. Evidently she could find none; very slowly she reached up, brought his head down and planted a gentle kiss upon the crown of his hair before turning away again, wiping her tears with the back on her hand.

“Thank you, Tybalt,” she spoke, and her voice was steady. “I am going back to sleep now.”

“Would you like Nurse-”

“No,” Juliet replied firmly. “I’m tired. Thank you for your help... dearest cousin.”

Leaving Juliet was one of the last things Tybalt wanted to do in that moment, but he had been dismissed. Rather reluctantly he pushed himself off of the bed and made his way across the room in the darkness, halting just outside of the door.

“Sweet dreams,” he called over his shoulder, and he glimpsed just the slightest hint of a smile from his cousin before he shut the door behind him, leaving his cousin to her dreams and her nightmares alone in the dark.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this at two in the morning after having an awful nightmare; for some inexplicable reason, all I wanted in that moment was Tybalt, so I gave Tybalt to Juliet instead. I hope this isn't that bad, considering it was written by a very distressed Lydia way past her bedtime.


End file.
